Zach and his sister, Zilana

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Hello everyone,
My name is Zachary Lee - I am 19 years old and am from Greenwich, CT. 6 years ago, my family adopted a little girl from the An Qing Children's Welfare Institute in China. This beautiful 8 year old girl, whose name is Zilana, has changed my life forever. I have raised funds in the past for the abandoned children of China - but I could never completely identify with the cause that was so close to my heart. In January of this year, I came to the conclusion that the only way I could truly understand the situation in China, and the only way I could figure out the best means of helping the orphans trapped within these borders, was to see with my own eyes how they lived. So, I began to contruct a trip to China, aiming to see all the aspects of the country - from Beijing to Shanghai to the poor rural towns of Bobai and Yulin. The trip now stands...

Beijing --> Shanghai --> Nanning --> Bobai --> Yulin --> Wuzhou --> Guilin --> Hong Kong

Right now, it is easy for me to update this blog. I am writing from a hotel in Beijing, where we can pay for 30 minutes of internet at a time. In Shanghai, I will be staying with a friend for a couple days, so updates will be simple there as well. Once I make it down south, though, internet is a rareity, but I will try my best to make my way to a computer whenever I can.

The updates today will seem very "touristy," but what can I do? It's my first time in Beijing, and all I can say is... "wow". My friend, also named Zach (we will address him as Rebich, his last name), thankfully joined me on this trip. He's quite a trooper. We are guided by the Alliance's Wu Si, who essentially coordinates the Sunbeam Villiages, which if you do not know about already, you will certainly be hearing about when Rebich and I make it to Nanning and on. But in Beijing thus far, having arrived only 2 days ago, we have managed to see the Forbidden City, Tienneman Square and Beihai Park, go a mile on the Great Wall, and have a surprising (and I really mean I was surprised only at the end to find out what exactly we had eaten) meal of duck heart, duck feet, duck everything else with a desert of fish (it was looking at me on the plate...). Chinese culture is very different, but I am beginning to get a feel for it.

I promise I will write a much better, and more detailed update later, but my time here is short, and I am throughly exausted after the long day. Also, I'm not sure if duck heart agrees with me...
- Zach